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   Sustainability is one of those concepts that people try to make complicated because it makes so much sense and might inconvenience them — like charity, kindness, generosity. We hear people talk about sustainable living as if it were some complex, modern idea. In fact, of course, it is only common sense.

If something isn’t sustainable, it can’t go on forever. It’s as simple as that. Of course, it can go on for a while and that’s the hitch. If we use more food than we grow, we go to the store. If we use more energy than we generate, then we buy more. Most of us are simply consumers, and we’ve become accustomed to just getting more of whatever we want. Yet we need to remember that someone is making all these things we consume. Somewhere along the line, the system has to be sustainable or it will break down and come to a screeching halt.

Farming and gardening are the easiest in terms of sustainability because Nature is designed to sustain itself. Roots extract nutrients from the earth to feed the plant. The leaves of the plant, which contain those nutrients, fall to the ground to feed the plant. It is a cycle, which if left alone, goes on quite efficiently.

Of course, we don’t always like Nature’s tactics. Part of the plan for keeping the prairies healthy and growing is occasional wildfires. Nature constantly renews but often with some violence. After Mount St. Helens erupted, ecologists feared it would be decades before any life returned to the area. Instead, within just a few years flora and fauna are flourishing, and the area is blanketed with healthy young plants.

In our own gardens, it is easy to make our own compost by converting waste into valuable fertilizer. That is sustainability at its most rudimentary level — plant, harvest, return the extras to the earth to feed the new plants. And maybe because it is so simple, we think it isn’t important. But it is important. One of the simplest things we as a society could do to improve the air quality, the water quality, the food quality, and the pollution problem is to simply return organic material to the soil rather than putting it in landfills. Isn’t that amazing? Simply adding organic matter to the soil will help it produce better crops and healthier grazing animals, will help it hold water and keep it clean, will keep carbon dioxide from escaping into the air, and will do away with the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

It is a beautifully elegant system, and I wonder why more people don’t take advantage of it.

I’m anxious to see what other possibilities will be on display at the Renewable Energy and Green Living and Sustainability Fair in Fredericksburg at the end of the month. I’m sure there will be many great ideas for cleaning up the mess we’ve gotten ourselves into. The problem is not lack of idea or lack of knowledge. The problem is willingness to be inconvenienced — either by having to spend more money, do more work, or do without some luxuries.

I recently picked up an almanac for 1927. In it was an article entitled "Influence of the Sun Upon the Earth," and one of the illustrations showed a solar-powered steam generator that was used to power pumping engines. According to the article, "It is probably that within the next hundred years our methods of generating power supply will have to undergo a radical change. Both oil and coal exist in limited quantities, gifts of nature which we are consuming without regard to our future needs." They already knew this in 1927.

Yet nothing has changed dramatically. We continue to use up non-renewable energy sources faster and faster. The article was wrong when it predicted: "Undoubtedly we shall see a rapid development of these machines in the near future." But it probably hit on the key when it said "Power companies may have the sun as a competitor." It is inconvenient for power companies to make less money.

It may be time to face up to a little inconvenience. Time to honestly admit that we’re taking more than we’re giving to this fine old planet we live on. Come on out to Fredericksburg on September 29 and find out how we can learn new and exciting ways.